Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, as the name implies, provide management and control of distributed systems. Many infrastructure providers, such as utility companies, use SCADA systems to control distributed equipment, such as relays and switches. In many applications, one of the most pervasive SCADA communications technologies is a low speed RS-232 interface connected to a two or four-wire communications line. For example, a master station may control several hundred devices using a two-wire multidrop scheme implementing a point to multipoint master/slave system. In these master/slave systems, the master station sequentially polls each of the control devices to retrieve data. However, a serial polling scheme has a throughput limited by the timeout associated with any one of the controlled devices. With increasing demands on modern systems, due in part to pressures such as deregulation, these systems require a more robust and secure system for management and control.